AMMAN — The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) on Thursday decided to lower interest rates on all monetary policy instruments by 25 basis points, effective on Sunday.

 

The decision was made during the sixth meeting of CBJ's Open Market Operations Committee of the year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

 

The committee stressed the resilience of monetary indicators and the strength of the Jordanian dinar, which is supported by the CBJ's high foreign reserves, currently amounting to $22.8 billion, sufficient to cover the Kingdom's imports of goods and services for 8.7months.

 

The inflation rate stood at 1.86 per cent during the first 8 months of this year, with projections indicating it will remain around 2.2 percent for the full year.

 

Bank deposits saw an increase of 5.7 per cent year-on-year to reach JD 48.3 billion by the end of July. Credit facilities provided by banks grew by 2.8 per cent year-on-year, amounting to JD35.6 billion.

 

Preliminary figures for the first half of the year put the capital adequacy ratio, a key measure of banks’ ability to absorb risk and meet obligations, at 18 per cent, ranking among the highest in the region. The figures also revealed that the legal liquidity ratio reached 142.4 per cent, comfortably exceeding the CBJ’s 100 per cent requirement.

 

According to the latest economic data, expatriates' remittances grew by 1.5 per cent in the first sevenmonths of the year, reaching $2.1 billion.

 

Tourism revenues amounted to $5.3 billion in the first eight months, marking an increase of 7.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

 

In the same context, total exports grew by 8.3 per cent during the first half of the year, reaching a value of $6.8 billion.

 

The CBJ also said it would continue monitoring economic, financial, and monetary developments locally, regionally and globally and will take necessary measures to ensure the stability of monetary and financial conditions in the Kingdom, which are essential for fostering a sustainable growth environment.